Research Interests

Evolutionary Ecology, Global Change Ecology and Biogeography or in
other words: biodiversity research. For me this is the most interesting
and one of the most urgent reserch agendas of our time. The enormous
complexity of biological systems - from the (epi)genome to ecosystems,
from individual organisms to full biomes, craves a broad range of
research approaches and methods, covering broad temporal and spatial
scales. Thus in my research I integrate historical biogeography and
evolutionary approaches with ecological research as I want to
understand what drives speciation and adaptation. My focus is on high
mountain areas as they contain large parts of the global biodiversity,
as well as on forest ecosystems, as it puzzles me how long living
organisms are able to cope with the rather rapid environmental changes.
Finally, it is my aim to make basic research relevant for
practitioners. Thus in many of my projects interaction with
stakeholders is an important component.

Global Change Ecology - Ongoing projects

DFG research unit
2358 | The Mountain Exile Hypothesis: How humans benefited from and
re-shaped African high altitude ecosystems during Quaternary climate
changes

High altitude ecosystems are still widely perceived as natural and
anthropogenic transformation is generally considered to be concentrated
on lower elevations and late. However, recent studies challenge this
view and for quaternary environmental science and prehistory, the
question where humans retreated to during the driest intervals of the
last 20 ka when lowlands may have become uninhabitable is still
demanding. Based on previous own and third-party research and a total
of four reconnaissances to the study area as part of the preparation of
this research unit, we challenge the initially stated long-held belief.
Given the higher humidity of the African mountains archipelago, the
afro-alpine environments are a potential glacial refuge not only for
plants and animals, but also for humans. Among others, this idea is
backed up by the facts that As a consequence, we postulate not a late
but early afro-alpine occupation expressed as the “Mountain Exile
Hypothesis”. Hence, the research unit will focus on reconstructing the
natural and the anthropogenic history of this afro-alpine environment
in space and time and the identification and quantification of the
natural and anthropogenic drivers and processes that shaped the ecology
evolution of the research area.

DFG LocalAdapt | Local adaptation of Nothofagus
pumilio along the latitudinal gradient of the Andes

The goals of this study are to identify the genetic and phenotypic
basis of local adaptation, and to determine the spatial scale at which
demographic history, natural selection, gene flow, and major
environmental drivers affect genetic diversity and local adaptation in
N. pumilio. In addition, this study wants to test whether
local adaptation along major environmental gradients evolved
convergently among the southern beech and seven tree species from
Europe including beech and oak. For these purposes, we will link
genetic variation in a set of ~1,000 candidate genes with
dendrophenotypes to quantify the genomic response of individuals and
populations to environmental differences along two clines. The first
cline is the latitudinal gradient along the Andean main ridge that will
allow investigating pathways influenced by cues of the light regime
e.g. circadian clock related genes. The second cline is an east-west
gradient that at the same time is an elevational and consequently
temperature as well as precipitation gradient that will allow
investigating pathways linked to these climatic parameters. In
addition, we will investigate the response of trees to stress events
unlinked to these gradients, namely ENSO related climatic variability
and pest outbreaks (Paritsis et al. 2009). In a next step, our results
will be compared to currently ongoing studies with identical
experimental design conducted in seven European tree species that among
others include the relatively closely related Fagus sylvatica
and Quercus robur as well as the very distantly related
conifer Picea abies.

The overall goal of Nature 4.0 is to develop a prototype of a
sensor based monitoring system of interaction networks in forests.
Beginning with the sensor-based phenotyping of trees such as the
quantification of their primary production including fruit production
and ending with sensor based assessments of detritivor activitiy,
Nature 4.0 will develop new monitoring approaches and test available
sensors on different platforms such as UAVs, robots, but also mounted
on animals such as deer and birds. This prototype of a comprehensive
monitoring system will be developed in the Marburg Open Forest and is
meant as the basis for range-wide monitoring schemes to provide
spatially explicit, highly resolved real time data for managers and
conservationists but also for basic research in evolutionary ecology
and forestry, e.g. in association genetics.

EpiDiverse will train a new generation of multidisciplinary
epigenetic experts capable of using, managing and translating
high-resolution genomic and bioinformatic tools to study the role of
epigenetics in ecology. This is the core motivation of the
interdisciplinary EpiDiverse research: to push the field of plant
ecological epigenetics by applying high-resolution epigenomics research
tools and ecological field sampling and experimental designs to a
diverse set of ecologically relevant natural study systems, with the
ultimate aim to expose the contribution of epigenetic variation to the
adaptive capacity of plants. To achieve this goal, EpiDiverse brings
together state-of-the-art know-how of leading epigenetics researchers
in molecular genetics, ecology and bioinformatics with the capacity of
life sciences companies for the generation and analysis of
high-throughput epigenetic sequencing data within large-scale
ecological study designs.

H2020
GenTree | Optimising the management and sustainable use of forest
genetic resources in Europe

The overall goal of GenTree is to provide the European forestry
sector with better knowledge, methods and tools to improve the
conservation and use of adapted and genetically diverse FGR in European
forests in the context of global environmental change and evolving
societal demands for a diversified range of forest products. To reach
its goal, GenTree will try to make scientific, technological and
implementation breakthroughs in 1. The design of innovative strategies
for conserving FGR in European forests; 2. Broadening the range of FGR
used in European breeding programmes; 3. The integration of
conservation and breeding strategies to provide a new framework for the
development of adaptive forest management. GenTree will be funded under
the EU H2020 program and will include cooperation partners from
throughout Europe.

BEECHgenomes | Genomic
variation in common beech: analysis of the adaptation and adaptability
of a forest species of great ecological and economic importance
threatened by climate change

Common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is an important keystone forest
species, representing more than 15% of Europe's forests and of great
commercial importance. It is the subject of many high quality research
programs in ecology, forest science, genetics and ecophysiology.
Despite this, there is a glaring lack of genomic resources and
knowledge on the genomic basis of adaptation in this species. The
BEECHGENOMES project (2017-2020), funded as part of the France genomics
call for projects, and led by INRA-URFM (Ivan Scotti), has three
objectives: (1) to establish a reference genomic sequence for the
common beech; (2) obtain high-density polymorphism data by a sequencing
genotyping approach from a large sample (> 2000 trees) obtained
across Europe; (3) identify patterns of local multi-scale adaptation,
from the stand to the distribution area, including the massif and the
region. The BEECHgenomes project has close ties with the ongoing H2020
program GenTree, e.g. Isabelle Lesure of my team is working as a
PostDoc in GenTree and BEECHgenome analysing the beech genomic data of
both projects.

The Silver Fir Genome Project aims to establish genomic resources
for Abies alba (European Silver Fir). In association with the AForGeN
working group, this project aims to follow the successful model of
the PineRefSeq project.
From funding to comparative analysis, this project is open to
collaboration from any field, any institution, and any country.

Evolutionary Ecology and Biogeography of Forest Trees -
Former projects

Epigenetic Diversity is a so far hidden component of biodiversity
with potentially far reaching ecological consequences. As most
epigenetic investigations dealing with plants have been done with
Arabidopsis thaliana so far, the ecological relevance can not
be assessed yet. In the framework of the sDiv-sponsored workshops
sEpiDiv I & II we will outline and review the most urgent
questions of plant ecological epigenetics for a european research
agenda. The new research consortium founded in the framework of
sEpiDiv includes molecular biologists, ecologists and
bioinformatitians. This project is funded by iDiv.

In this study we aim to investigate the methylation profile of
Picea abies to find out whether coherent changes in DNA
methylation status occur dependent on environmental conditions
(epigenetic priming). As a proof-of-principle, we aim to conduct
targeted bisulfite sequencing in order to identify the methylation
status of Picea abies for the complete exome. By using pairs of ortets
and ramets that have been growing under different environmental
conditions, we will determine whether methylation profiles differ in
general between these pairs. Furthermore, we will use the recently
published and annotated Picea abies reference genome to check
á posteriori whether there are differences in methylation status in
specific genes (e.g. related to circadian rhythms, bud phenology and
stress) between otherwise genetically identical individuals.
Significant changes would imply that gene methylation permits
phenotypic changes within the life time of an organism. As the existing
experimental setting is based on grafted ramets we will cross-check the
methylation profile of tissue from the root stock and the graft stock
in case that the first comparisons of ortet and ramet pairs produce
coherent differences. This second step then is aimed at testing whether
different methylation profiles are due to the influence of the root
stock (see above). At the same time, this approach will allow the
exploration of the methylation status in different tissues (needles vs.
bark). This project was funded by the German Research Council
(DFG).

In a joint Pan-European project with collegues from France, Italy,
Spain, and Sweden we screen the ecological and geographical margins of
widespread keystone forest trees from different ecoregions to identify
where recent environmental changes have provoked adaptational shifts to
water stress, temperature regime, storm/fire freuqeuncy, and pest
outbreaks. Using natural and controlled (reciprocal transplants, common
gardens) populations from existing Pan-European networks, we will
generate large arrays of genomic polymorphisms using innovative genomic
approaches. The goal is to test the existence and evaltuate the
magnitude of tipping points for tree population dynamics at
micro-evolutionary scales. In close cooperation with Martin Lascoux
from Uppsala and Beppe Vendramin from Italy we focus on Picea abies in
its entire range including populations from Sweden, Germany
(Nationalpark Bayerischwer Wald), and Italy. (funded by ERA-NET
BiodivERsA).

DFG Genetic Biodiversity research in mountain forests of
Myanmar

The Inselbergs of Burma likely have played a central role in the
speciation processes of the montane and alpine biota of the
southeastern Himalaya. In this projekt we investigate this role in an
island biogeographical context by means of plant diversity transects. I
contribute to the overall project by doing population genetic
investigations on selected plant taxa. Several expeditions to the
remote mountain forests in northern Burma in close cooperation with
Burmese partners have been done to collect the valuable plant material.
This research was funded by the German Research Council (DFG).

Evolutionary Ecology and Biogeography of Insects - Ongoing
projects

DFG Phylogeography of Ground Beetles as a human-independent
paleoenvironmental proxy in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

One of the most challenging tasks in paleoecology is to disentangle
climate signals from human disturbance signals. Ground beetles
are
one of a few bioindicator groups that are independent of human
influence and still highly sensitive to environmental change. Using
phylogeographic and phylogenetic analysis of extant primarily-wingless
ground beetles in combination with subfossil beetle remains, provides a
new proxy for paleoenvironments that is human-independent, spatially
explicit and coherent. This method was established in the
Himalayan-Tibetan Orogen and will be transferred to the African
Highlands. This research is funded as WP7 in the DFG FOR 2358.

DFG Phylogeny and biogeography of the extant ground beetle
fauna as a new tool to unravel the Himalayan-Tibetan
orogenesis

The uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen (HTO) has significantly
influenced the global climate and due to its massive elevations and
river incisions of the worlds largest mass elevation it likely played a
significant role as a speciation pump. Almost every publication that
deals with speciation, phylogeography and population genetics in High
Asia refers to these connections. However, so far no spatially and
timely highly resolved specification of the uplift events is available.
Even regarding the overall picture of the HTO uplift there are
significantly different opinions in the geosciences. In this project we
utilize the fact that primarily wingless ground beetles are an ideal
paleoecological tool as they are extremely species rich and immobile
and are abundantly available throughout the HTO. By using dated
phylogenies of extant ground beetle species we can date when a specific
location has been uplifted to its current height and climatic
conditions. Joachim Schmidt and I therefore use the phylogeography and
phylogenies of Pterostichini to unravel the geological and
climatological History of High Asia (e.g. see paper in 2011 in QSR and
2012 in PLOSone). This research is funded by the German Research
Council (DFG).

Evolutionary Ecology and Biogeography of Insects - Former
projects

BMBF SuLaMa: Participatory research to support sustainable
land management on the Mahafaly Plateau in southwestern Madagascar
(SuLaMa)

The goal of the overall project is to better understand the
relationships and effects on interactions of ecosystems and their
biological diversity with in situ land management on the Mahafaly
Plateau, Madagascar. This region is challenged by increasing population
pressure, poverty, and effects of climate change. SuLaMa intends to
provide land use alternatives for a sustainbale improvement of the
livelihoods of the local people. In our subproject we focus on the role
that soil biodiversity plays in this dry ecosystem. Since little is
known so far about the soil biota in this region, we screen the soil
biodiversity along a landuse gradient from the dry forests of the
Tsimanampetsotsa National Park to the surrounding villages.
Furthermore, the impact of different taxonomic groups on the nutrient
turnover in the soils is in our focus. (funded by
BMBF, www.sulama.de)

Other interests

IPBES - Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Service

As its older brother the IPCC - IPBES was initiated to become a tool
for decision makers and the general public to learn about the global
biodiversity crisis, its tipping points and possible ways out of this
crisis. As the Chair of The International Biogeography Society's
special committee on IPBES I have been an observer to IPBES-1, 2, and 3
and been actively involved in the stakeholder process. Furthermore, I
oversee the society's nominations for IPBES experts. Likewise, as a
member of the German National IPBES ad hoc expert committee I
also help facilitate the German nomination process. And finally I have
been appointed a Lead Author for the Regional Assessment Asia/Pacific.
There I have been contributing to chapters 1 (setting the scene) and 3
(status and trends of biodiversity). www.ipbes.net

36*. Miehe et al. (2018) The Kobresia pygmaea ecosystem of the
Tibetan Highlands: Origin, functioning and degradation of the world's
largest pastoral alpine ecosystem. Science of the Total environment. doi:
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.164

17*. Miehe et al. (2014) How old is the human footprint in the
world's largest alpine ecosystem? A review of multiproxy records from
the Tibetan Plateau from the ecologists' viewpoint. Quaternary Science
Reviews 86, 190-209.

8*. Opgenoorth et al. (2010) Tree endurance on the Tibetan Plateau
marks the world's highest known tree line of the Last Glacial Maximum.
New Phytologist, 185 (1), 332-342. Paper was highlighted in the
editorial section of that New Phytologist edition.